This morning I read Steve Jobs’s obituary, CHECK IT.

 The man isn’t dead yet, of course. But Bloomberg apparently keeps a list of important sick people and regularly updates their obituary, just to be ready for when The Undertaker shows up. How sick indeed is that?

 You have to wonder though, who else is on that list? I mean, from our culture, who could have made that morbid top? Now that would be quite an achievement, to be big enough not only to have your History written literally before your eyes, but to also be in this strange position to actually SEE it.

 Related sidenote: my big brother and CoolCat #7 Phillipe Zdar used to always laugh at one’s enthusiasm after finishing a song by saying: “With this record, I’m pretty sure they’ll name a street after you in your hometown!” Well, this morning I also read that a lot of towns in America are now naming their avenues BARACK OBAMA BOULEVARD and what have you. Talking about life-achieving, that sounds almost like death-achieving to me!

   M.

  Switch is a fierce producer and uncanny musician. He has that out-of-this-world universal inspiration and he’s one of the very best. He did a remix for my I AM SOMEBODY song in 2006, I thank him for that. My favourite of his are ‘Worry about it later’ by THE FUTUREHEADS, ‘Never never’ by BRICK N’LACE, and of course ‘Creator’ by SANTOGOLD. He is one crazy Cool Cat.

   Hi Dave,

    Mehdi.

   OK, so, now, how am I supposed to start this?

   I, dear reader, am under a rather mild pressure from my blog co-hosts to publish my first entry on this CoolCats verbal gathering. My close friends are often mocking my lack of spontaneity, and it is an actual fact that I tend to ponder, reflect, deliberate, and ruminate a bit before I publish something-whether it’s a song on a record or a simple comment on my Myspace page. (Doesn’t save me for making mistakes, but at least I always know who to blame.)

   For instance, here are the ideas that I contemplated for this inaugural post:

-My top (Songs, Trends, Memories, Festivals, Airline meals or A-Trak blog posts) of 2008.

-My bottom (Canadian weather stories, Non-official remixes of Kanye or Justice songs, Youtube comments or XXLmag.com blog posts) of 2008.

-My most looked forward-to (Albums, Proxy productions, Stone Throw or BNR releases, Frat-Pack movies, or Busy P blog posts) of 2009.

   And then I thought, what’s the use? Almost every blog I regularly read had their lists already, and I will probably intentionally or unconsciously copycat parts of it. (By the time I got to this conclusion I already received 5 or 6 text messages from So-Me and Pedro to start it already.)

   Next i thought, hey, this blog isn’t called Mehdipedia for nothing: I’m going to share those little curiosity quests that make my everyday so interesting with you, dear reader. And this New-Zealand/Australia trip is indeed full of those:

-Why do people pronounce QWANTAS when it’s only called QANTAS? (because it stands for Queensland and Northern Territories Aerial Services)

-What the heck is Vegemite? (It is a very, very odd tasting paste made of yeast extract that give Australian people enough powers to beat any French athlete at any sport.)

-Why does Burger King go by Hungry Jack’s in Australia? (it’s a long story)

   And then, and then. (At this moment of my hesitations, Fafi already threatened to steal my codes and write a blog for me, god forbid.)

   Dear reader, let me tell you one other private thing about me: when in doubt, I always, ALWAYS, turn to my masters, I call them THE 4 J’s: John, Jay, Jerry, John.

   Lennon, -Z, Seinfeld, and Le Carré.

   I have never been disapointed in finding the solution to any problem my life has made me come accross in the writings of these four masters of life achievement in the modern western hemisphere. Thus, with no futher blah-blah, this is me wishing you all a happy new year in the spirit of Mr Carter’s teachings:

Treating my first blog like my last, and my last like my first.

   You stay classy San Diego,

      Mehdi.

(Props to my bodyguard Amandine Romero for this picture.)